Denise Batchelor, Morning Commute

3 November 2023 – 18 February 2024

As a city awakens, early morning hues colour an increasingly busy scene. The dawn chorus, having just completed their concert, is now busy foraging. Kotare, duck, gulls, kawau and all manner of smaller birds come to the lagoon seeking food. A lone heron forages above, between the graves of well-known men; the site privy to the best seats in the house.

Animalia, human, are also beginning the day. Ensconced in moving metal cages, they follow each other in a ritual resembling ants. The path ahead is potentially slow. At the end of the day, the path is retraced and repeated the following. To be human is to be inextricably entwined to a natural environment, even one that is more often urban.

As the sprawl expands, unseen territories are trespassed. Lines of demarcation become muddied, creating competition for space. In this delicate dance of survival, it is essentially a human decision determining where these spaces converge, forcing other species to adapt or perish. In a plot twist however, nature is often known to have the last word.

Morning Commute offers a view where the seemingly opposing worlds of urban and natural environments collide, overlap and even occasionally succeed in existing side by side.

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Recent Exhibitions

20 October 2023 – 31 January 2024
20 October 2023 – 31 January 2024
12 November 2023 – 28 January 2024
12 November 2023 – 28 January 2024
12 November 2023 – 28 January 2024
12 November 2023 – 28 January 2024
12 November 2023 – 28 January 2024
12 November 2023 – 28 January 2024
2 - 17 March
3 November – 3 December 2023
17 November – 22 December 2023
6 October – 4 November 2023